Chapter 94, Transportation

    Roul was growing to be a nice-looking puppy. Black Doberman with brown highlights. He was a very smart dog and enjoyed playing. Unfortunately, Avi taught him to chase cats on command. On the other hand, he learned other important commands like to jump through hoops and even to disarm anyone who holds a pistol pointing at us. He was still young and didn’t know how to defend himself, but he was learning.

     One afternoon I heard a yelp from the front yard and saw that two big German Shepperd dogs – a mother and son attacked my poor puppy who escaped straight home. When I confronted their owner, them she just shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

   

    I think I have been very lucky, Avi and I weren’t just brothers, we were best friends. We did almost everything together, we even dressed alike on many occasions. Now that he had this new girlfriend Tali, we spent a little less time together, but we did share everything. Avi asked me one day to borrow the Sussita. Of course, I let him have it so he could drive Tali back home. As they were driving over a bridge, suddenly Avi saw a car wheel passing him on the left and then the car tilts backward, to the side and came to a sudden stop. For some reason the lug nuts fell off and the rear tire released, passing the car as it fell and stopped. Avi ran after the loos tire and placed it back using one nut from each of the tires and drove the car back home. 

 

    Tali was introduced to Avi by her army superior when she was discharged. Ilana Greenspan (not to confuse her with Ilana the dancer) joined our small crew at the Tibi Tea and loved spending time with us. Ilana gave me an album of Supertramp for my birthday which became one of my favorite records and I still have it today. None of us was interested in each other romantically. Not to say anything about her or our look, Ilana was very pretty, she looked great wearing the tank top I designed for the tea house. 

We just became very good friends. So, when Avi and his latest girlfriend separated, Ilana introduced him to Tali. 

    That is when problems began. Tali was a jealous person; in very short time she was picking on Ilana causing conflicts between us until Ilana left us. Suddenly Avi and I started to argue over nothing. Even Roul didn’t like her. One morning she was left at home alone with him. When it was time for her to leave to go to her camp, he cornered her in the room and didn’t let her leave, growling every time she made a move. Lucky for her I returned to pick up something from home and released her. 

 

    I still didn’t like working with Dad, not because of Dad or his friends, but because it was boring. I would come for a few hours and leave. I promised myself as soon as the summer comes, I will look for a lifeguard job.

 

    As I was driving home, suddenly the Sussita has stopped with a screech as if I hit the brakes. It left long black streaks behind the car. I restarted the car and tried to drive it, but the car just stayed in place. I had to call a tow truck and asked to be driven home. I lifted the Sussita on blocks and checked under the car. I discovered that the differential was damaged. I will need to replace it or try to fix it.

 

    A rear accel is a big and expensive part. I had to fix it myself. I took it apart and found the broken part. This was not as easy to replace. It ended up that the Sussita had a Ford Escort engine a Triumph rear axle, but the part inside the rear axle were from a Ford Anglia. I managed to find the broken gear at a junk yard but there was one part that I couldn’t find anywhere. It was a special wedge that looked like half a circle. It was a safety part that supposed to break when the rear axle seizes. I couldn’t find an exact wedge to fit. What I did manage to figure out was that the size was exactly like two ¼ shekel cut in half. This is exactly what I did. I cut two quarter shekels in half and used them instead of the wedge.

 

    Lucky for me a mechanic was interested in my Sussita for some reason and was willing to exchange it for a Ford Falcon and even pay me a little to do the exchange. I gladly accepted and now owned a gas guzzler. Granted it was only six cylinders and they were pretty small so it wasn’t as bad as you might think, but for Israel it was. The price of gas was and still is four times more expensive than in the USA. 

    Avi loved this car, and you could tell, he drove fast, very fast. He was a good driver with very good instincts. That is why I was surprised when he came home with a big dent on the side of the car.

 “Can you believe it?” He said, “I was standing in a stop sign and a truck tried to pass me on the left and turn to the right.”

I needed to fix that; the insurance of the truck covered the body repair. We found a body shop at the old commercial district of Netanya, but they were too slow. We had to use my bike for transportation around town. Avi would ride the bike and I would hang behind wearing my roller skates. It was my new cheap way of travel. When I needed to go to work, I rode my skates and Avi would shop with the bicycle. Even in bad weather days we would travel by bikes and skates to my mom’s for Friday night dinner or any local tasks.

 

    “He Kid!” I heard one day as I crossed the road on red light. “Stop right there!” I looked back and saw a policeman with his tickets pad and a pen in his hand. 

 “Come over here!” He didn’t say please.

 “Yes officer!” I said lowering my head, not looking at his eyes. I didn’t want to crack up laughing.

 “You know you crossed the street on red light?”

 “Sorry sir, I didn’t pay attention, I was in a rush to get some groceries for my mother.”

 He flipped a page on his pad and wrote a note for my Mom telling her to watch over me. he handed it to me, “Watch it next time! And be careful out there!” Again, it was one more reason to be happy for being so young looking and small.

 

    One Friday afternoon I heard a very loud yelp, and right after that even louder yelp. I ran outside to check if Roul was attacked again. To my relief I saw the two big German Sheppard running away in different directions and Roul chasing them away. I looked at their angry owner, smiled and shrugged my shoulders. 

 

 

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Sweet Potato Latkes

 

 Potato Latkes, a traditional food for Hannukah. But the truth is you can eat them anytime. My wife loves this version better. To tell the truth I can’t have enough of it. We even tried to make them with a little more protein.

 

Ingredients:

Sweet Potato

Onion

Chickpeas

Egg

Cilantro

Parsley

Garlic

Ginger

Salt

Olive Oil

 

Preparation:

 Soak the chickpeas in water overnight. Grate the potato and onion. Ground the chickpeas, cilantro, parsley, and garlic. Mix all and let sit for an hour. Make little patties and fry.

 

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